A fuse element is a protection element that interrupts an electric circuit promptly when an unexpected high current flows through it. Different types of fuse elements are now available.
One example of such fuse elements is a fuse element 51 built in an in-vehicle fuse 50 illustrated in FIG. 10 (e.g., other similar examples are described in Patent Documents 1 and 2).
The in-vehicle fuse 50 includes: a cylindrical casing 52; a fuse element 51 contained in the cylindrical casing 52; and arc-extinguishing sand 53 filled between the fuse element 51 and the cylindrical casing 52.
The fuse element 51 is positioned at the center of the casing 52 and has terminal sections 54 protruding from both ends of the cylindrical casing 52. To increase its rated current, the terminal sections 54 and 54 are integrally connected to four elements 55 . . . 55, which are arranged in parallel at preset regular spacings.
Many methods are employed to fabricate the fuse element 51 configured above. One typical fabricating method will be described with reference to FIG. 11. First, a pair of terminal sections 54 and four long, narrow elements 55 are individually prepared. Specifically, each terminal section 54 has notched grooves 54a that form a cross shape; each element 55 has a plurality of small holes 56 created with stamping such that small, narrow fused sections 57 are left therebetween. Then, both ends 55a and 55a of each element 55 are bent and latch onto the corresponding notched grooves 54a of the terminal sections 54. After that, each element 55 is fixed to both the terminal sections 54 at these latching sites by means of, for example, soldering or brazing.
Disadvantages with the method of fabricating the fuse element 51 described above are as follows. Before soldered to the elements 55, the terminal sections 54 need to be subjected to many processes, including at least blank layout, cutting, bending, and the cutting and raising of the notched parts 54a. Likewise, each element 55 needs to be subjected to many fabricating processes, including at least blank layout, cutting, the forming of the fused sections 57 (the stamping step for the small holes 56), and the bending of both ends 55a. 
Furthermore, the process of soldering each element 55 to both the terminal sections 54 requires complex positioning steps using a jig (not illustrated), such as a step of adjusting the spacings between the elements 55 and the parallelism thereof, which may involve a lot of experience and skill.
In the method of fabricating the existing in-vehicle fuse 51 with the plurality of elements 55, as described above, a process of fabricating and assembling components of the fuse element 51 may involve a high degree of skill and a lot of time, resulting in low productivity and high overall costs of the entire in-vehicle fuse 50.    Patent Document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,860 (parts indicated by the reference signs 82 and 84 in FIG. 8)    Patent Document 2: U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,817 (parts indicated by the reference signs 30 and 32 in FIG. 2)